You need not have chest pain for heart attack

For long, a sudden chest pain was considered the main symptom of a heart attack, but a comprehensive study conducted by a Florida-based chest pain centre has found that many patients taken to hospitals for heart attacks never had chest pain. Consequently, they were less likely to be treated aggressively, according to a report on the NYT website.

The study done at the chest pain centre of Lakeland Regional Medical Center, Florida, showed that of 1.1 million people, 42% of women admitted to hospitals for heart attack never experienced chest pain, while the figure was 30.7% in the case of men.

The study, of which the Center's director John G Canto is an author, was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

According to leading cardiologist Ashwin Mehta, well over 20 to 30% of people admitted to hospitals in India have had painless heart attack. "My observation is that people suffering from hypertension and diabetes may have a painless heart attack. In such cases, the signals of discomfort are vague and weak. As a result, they get less opportunity for treatment," Mehta said.

Endorsing Mehta's views, JJ Hospital cardiology professor Anil Kumar said the silent heart attack phenomenon was not new. In most people suffering from high blood-pressure and diabetes, the tendency to have no or less chest pain is quite high. "In my opinion, people with high risk should take more care. Even if there is a slight doubt, they must be rushed to a cardiologist for basic treatment," said Kumar.

The Florida survey also revealed that women were more likely to succumb after a heart attack-the mortality rate for women was 15% and men 10%. Heart disease is the leading cause of death among both men and women not just in the US, but around the world too, killing about seven million people a year, said the NYT website. Until the 1980s, heart disease was largely considered a male problem and many studies that focused only on men drew a narrow picture of the typical signs of a heart attack.

The researchers used data from a national registry of people admitted to hospitals for heart attack from 1994 to 2006 to look at differences in symptoms and mortality rates among men and women. The analysis, covering over 1.1 million people, showed that while chest pain was the most frequent symptom of a heart attack in both men and women, a sizable minority of patients-about 35%-had suffered heart attacks without having chest pain.

cricketers Childhood Photo

Isro row: I will fight to the finish, Madhavan Nair says

Former Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair said he would file an appeal under RTI by tomorrow seeking reasons for blacklisting him from government jobs even as he reposed faith in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to revoke his ban order.

"I will file the appeal today or tomorrow (before the Central Information Commission)," he told PTI.

The department of space last week declined to reveal to him the specific recommendations and reasons for banning him from government jobs for his role in the controversial Antrix-Devas deal, and the factors taken into consideration.

The DoS cited Section 8 (1) (h) of the RTI, for not providing this required information, saying further enquiry is likely and divulging those details would impede investigation.

Asked about the Prime Minister not replying to his letter written soon after the ban order, Nair said his guess was that Singh would probably have asked the DoS to seek the opinion of the law ministry in the matter. Noting that the law ministry's advice was known last week, he said, "Logically, it (the advice) may be presented to him and he (the Prime Minister) might take a decision on the matter. That's what I expect".

The ministry has told DoS to allow the four Isro scientists "post decisional opportunity" to place their stand on its move debarring them from occupying any government position in future in the aftermath of the Antrix-Devas deal.

In an opinion to DoS, the ministry has also said no further probe into the deal is required and that there was no need for a charge-sheet at this stage.

103 Yemen troops killed in al-Qaida assault

ADEN:More than 100 Yemeni soldiers have been killed in clashes with suspected al-Qaida gunmen after the extremists attacked military positions in Yemen's restive south, medics said today.

Yesterday's assault was one of the single deadliest against Yemeni troops, and the latest in a spate of attacks against security forces since President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi pledged to destroy the militant group in last month's inauguration speech.

A medical official at the military hospital in the southern port city of Aden, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said "the death toll... has risen to at least 103" soldiers.

He said "many soldiers died from wounds sustained in the assault" on army posts on the outskirts of Zinjibar, Abyan's provincial capital where al-Qaeda linked militants are in control.

A military official, who also declined to be identified, told AFP al-Qaeda militants were responsible for the "surprise attack," saying "it was a massacre."

Another medic said hospital staff were overwhelmed by the number of casualties.

"We were forced to use administrative offices and waiting rooms to treat the wounded," he told AFP, declining to be named. "The hospital was packed full with dead and injured" soldiers.

Military officials had reported fierce clashes yesterday when suspected al-Qaida militants tried to overrun an army post in Kud, just south of Zinjibar. The violence then spread to other military positions on the outskirts of the city.

Quake jolts north India, no casualties reported

An earthquake of medium intensity jolted Delhi and its satellite towns on Monday afternoon, pulling panic-stricken people out of their homes and offices.

The tremors, measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale with Haryana's Bahadurgarh as epicentre, were felt across Delhi and its adjoining satellite towns of Ghaziabad and Noida in Uttar Pradesh at a 1:11pm, the MeT office said.

However, according to the US Geological Survey, the strength of the earthquake was measured 5.2 on the Richter scale.

The quake took place 9km below the surface. The tremors were felt for less than ten seconds.

"The intensity was 4.9 and the epicentre was Bahadurgarh, Delhi-Haryana Border," a senior MeT official said.

There were no immediate reports of any casualty. The fire brigade and police said they have not received any immediate calls of casualty or damage.

According to the Seismic Zone Mapping done by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Delhi is among 30 cities in the country falling in zone IV, which is defined as a severe intensity seismic zone.

This is the third tremor in Delhi, which is among the 30 cities which fall in the high risk seismic zone, since September last year.

Tremors were felt in the capital on September 18 last year following an earthquake with an intensity of 6.8 on the Richter scale having its epicentre near Sikkim-Nepal border.

On September eight last year, an earthquake of 4.2 on Richter scale with Haryana's Sonepat as epicentre, had rocked the capital.